Sienna smoothed down her material of her linen pants. I have something to get changed into in my bag.”
“In there?” Jen pointed to the purse that sat on her friend’s lap.
“It’s a leotard. It doesn’t take up much room.”
“This isn’t a ballet class.” Carol grinned. “This is some women and some of their partners getting some exercise and apparently relaxation.”
“Well you better be able to get changed fast because we’re running late,” Erin said.
“I can,” Sienna said.
The girls were all sitting on the rolled out yoga mats along with the rest of the class and there was still no sign of Sienna. They’d been held up with introductions and she hadn’t had a chance to get changed when they first got there.
“Carol, will your friend be much longer? We’re really going to have to start.”
“I’ll go check on her,” Jen said.
“Stupid thing,” Sienna grumbled, trying desperately to pull the long red hair that had gotten itself tangled in the zipper of her full body leotard.
“What’s wrong, hon?” Jen asked through the cubicle door.
“I’m stuck.”
“Open the door and I’ll help you.”
“No, I nearly have it.”
“They want to start. Just open the door and let me in.”
There was silence for a minute and then the door squeaked open.
“Okay, show it to me. Oh, Sienna, you really should tie your hair up.”
“This is information that would have been better before I tried to pull on this skin tight thing.”
Jen giggled and pulled her friend over to a chair where she could sit and get a better look in the light. She yanked the lycra closer to her but at the same time managed to expose a large amount of Sienna’s thong clad bottom. “Oh my God!” Jen said.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh we are going to talk about it. Big time.” Jen freed the hair from the zipper and had her clothed again in no time at all. “We better go back but we are having a talk about this on the way home.”
“I guess there’d be no point asking you to keep this between us.”
Jen scoffed. “Would you? This is news of a gigantic proportion.”
“How do you know it wasn’t for pleasure?”
“I know the markings of a switching when I see it.”
“Maybe I like being switched.”
“Sure you do.” Jen swung open the bathroom door and they reentered the room.
“Here they are,” the instructor said. “I thought I was going to have to send someone else in.”
“Sorry,” Sienna said. Her face was flaming.
“Nice get up,” Carol said with a grin.
Sienna sat on her mat that had been placed for her behind Carol’s. “I don’t own sweats,” Sienna said.
“Just joking,” Carol said. “What’s up with her?” she mouthed to Jen.
Jen grinned.
“What?” Carol mouthed again.
“Ladies, we are supposed to be entering the first relaxation phase,” the woman at the head of the class said almost in a calming voice but one that held just a little irritation.
“Sorry,” Carol said. The woman nodded her forgiveness.
“Lay on your backs. We are going to relax and lengthen the lower spine and release the tensions from your body.”
The woman’s calm voice was back. Carol did as she chanted and spread her legs and faced her palms to the ceiling.
“Breathe deeply a few times.”
“Place your hand on your abdomen and feeeeeeel,” she said. “As you inhale, your abdomen goes up and when you exhale, your abdomen goes down.”
All good, Carol thought. Breathing was easy and relaxing. This person was so much better than the one that she and Crystal had at the night class the week before. This was easy.
“Place your legs together, heels touching, toes pointed to the sky.”
No problem, she could point her toes and breath at the same time.
“Bend your leg,” the voice said. “Push your knee into your chest, thus stretching your buttocks and lengthening your spine.”
Carol looked sideways and could see Jen smiling. That’s when it all went wrong. Her belly started to shake, she pressed her lips together to keep from laughing and she hung onto her leg for grim death. It was immature she knew, but it was also funny. There was something about the word buttocks.
“Lower your leg and raise your other leg. Hang on to your knee and push into in to your chest. You will feel your leg against your abdomen as you inhale.”
Then it happened. There was a noise behind them. Sienna in her pretty pink ballerina outfit had farted. Carol collapsed with a fit of the giggles and the others were right behind her, even Sienna.
“Just relax,” the voice said, once again laced with impatience.
Carol had to give it to the woman, she stayed calm regardless while she instructed them in how to fold themselves like pastries into weird and uncomfortable poses. Finally they were laying flat again in the corpse pose, how apt.
“Let your breaths flow slowly and bring your knees to your chest. Roll to one side in the fetal position, and finally you may bring yourself to a gentle sitting position.”
As they rolled up their mats, Jen leaned over. “Sienna got switched!” she hissed.
“Well, well, well,” Carol said with a grin. “Kept that one to herself. I wonder what changed in their house.”
“We’re gonna find out.”
Sienna had disappeared to the bathroom to change back into her clothes.
“Spill,” Carol said. The three women were waiting for Sienna to vacate the stall.
“This isn’t the place.”
“There’s no one here,” Jen said.
“At least tell us what you did.”
Sienna’s face flushed. “It’s that club.”
“The men’s club?”
“Seems Brock found the need to share with Toby what we got up to on our visit to the bank.”
“Uh oh,” Carol said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Hey, I’m not blaming anyone. I was the one that thought it would be a good idea to be a doctor. Then it was my idea to say the fax was a joke.”
“So he cut a switch?” Jen asked.
“He made me cut a switch, and I swear that was the most embarrassing experience I’ve ever had.”
“Oh Sienna the switch is the worst,” Carol said. “That’s some initiation.”
“Huh? Well, you’re one of us now. There’s no going back.”
“Yeah, I think you might be right.”
Chapter 9
Well pretty girl, you did it,” Crystal said. “I think we’re about ready to have us a baby. How do you feel?”
“Nervous, excited, nervous. What if I just don’t fall pregnant?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. You know you’ve done everything necessary to get your body ready. Now it’s time to leave it to nature, sort of.”
Carol nodded. “In a perfect world I’ll get pregnant the first time.”
“Yep.” Crystal hoped to heaven that would happen but the truth was it could take a lot longer than that. “We’ll arrange to have the sperm delivered Monday to Dr Marcus. He’s happy to store it until your temperature is right, which hopefully should be by the end of the week.”
“When should we tell Bri?”
“There isn’t anything to tell her yet. Let’s leave it until we know there’s a baby on the way.” Crystal didn’t think there was any reason to tell their daughter until there was something concrete to tell her. She was going to be over the moon excited but if it didn’t happen straight away, it would be hard enough for Carol without Bri asking a million questions. “I almost forgot. I have a present for you.”
“Ooh, I love presents.”
Crystal ran to the kitchen and pulled a gift bag out of one of the cabinets. “You brought me food?”
/>
“No, silly. I just hid it in there. I was waiting for exactly the right time and this is it.”
Carol opened the bag and grinned. “An ovulation kit?”
“Top of the line. This hopefully will give us an edge.” She watched as Carol got the box out of the bag and read the instructions.
“What if I get the smiley face and we’re not ready?”
“We will be ready. I already rang and checked with the sperm bank. All they need is authorization from Dr Marcus and they can ship the next day.”
“So this is really going to happen,” Carol said.
“It really is.”
“Have I told you how much I love you lately?”
Crystal grinned. “I love you too.”
“So, you just go and pick up the tank from the doctor’s office and then you take it home and then, you know, you use it?” Sienna asked.
“There’s a little more to it than that,” Carol said. “I have this kit that I had to start using at the start of my cycle.”
“An ovulation kit.”
Sienna said, “I’m familiar.”
“You used one?” Carol asked. She realized that she must sound pretty self-centered at times. It never occurred to her that any of her friends would have had trouble conceiving.
“I did. It took us a little while to get pregnant. The ovulation kit really helped.”
“So did you get twins from some kind of fertility drug?” Erin asked.
“No, just lucky.” Sienna grinned. “Although when they were tiny, I didn’t always think so. There were a few weeks there when I thought we’d go insane. No sleep, not a little sleep, none. One woke and the other slept, then we’d just go back to bed and the other one would wake up.”
“How long did it take to get them on the same schedule?” Jen asked.
“Like I said, a few weeks. They eventually settled and so did we,” Sienna said. “So where are you up to?”
“No smiley face yet, which is probably just as well because our sperm got held up and hasn’t been delivered yet.”
“A smiley face?” Jen laughed.
“I know it sounds dorky but hey, if it smiles at me I’ll be smiling back,” Carol said. “I just know this is it. I have a feeling in my gut. Call it beginner’s luck or whatever, I just know that in six weeks or so I’m going to be holding a positive pregnancy test.”
“So this gut feeling, does it have any idea whether you’ll be having a boy or a girl?”
“Or whether you’re having more than one?” Sienna asked.
“Um, no, to both questions. That couldn’t really happen could it? I mean, I know it could but the likelihood of it happening is slim, right?”
Sienna shrugged. “Who knows. Happened to me.”
“I hadn’t really planned on having more than one.”
“She’s just teasing,” Erin said with a giggle. “It could happen but it isn’t very likely.”
“Besides,” Jen said. “If it did, you would love them both to bits.”
“Yeah it’d be fine,” Sienna said. “Besides, you might get one of each.”
“Let’s talk about your switching again. I think I want all the gory details. The part where you cried and danced up and down to get rid of the sting.”
“I didn’t tell you I did that.”
“No? Must have been wishful thinking.” Carol tossed a cushion at her friends head. “You know what. I want cake. I deserve a bit of a celebration.”
“Yes you do. A treat never hurt anyone.”
“I had cake today,” Carol said when Crystal walked through the door.
“Did you just?” Crystal asked. “Well I’m sure a piece of cake won’t hurt you. It’s what you do most of the time that counts.”
“I had two pieces actually and a hot chocolate.”
Crystal laughed. “I know I said I wanted you to be honest with me but I didn’t mean you had to tell me every little thing.”
“I was celebrating, but then I came home and I thought, what am I celebrating? Nothing’s happened yet. I used the thingy after lunch and it still isn’t showing any LH surge. Then I was pleased about that because we don’t have our sperm yet and I thought, what if it did show a spike and I was fertile and the sperm didn’t come? Where is our sperm? I need to know that the sperm is going to be close by if we need it. It’s making me really anxious not to know.” Carol knew she was rambling but she didn’t seem to be able to stop.
“Hey,” Crystal said, pulling Carol into her arms. “I think that maybe the amount of sugar you had today has rattled you. Not that what you’re feeling isn’t justified. I was getting worried myself.”
“That’s not making me feel any better. What I want to hear is ‘Don’t worry, Carol, the sperm will be here and everything is going to work out just fine’.”
“I’d love to tell you that but the truth is, I can’t control everything. I will do my best. I rang this afternoon and I spoke to someone who promised me tomorrow.”
“They said that yesterday and the day before,” Carol whined.
“Which is why I won’t promise you more than the fact that I will do my utmost to make this happen.”
Carol nodded and then burst into tears. “I hate them,” she said.
“Who?” Crystal asked, trying not to laugh.
“The people that are holding our sperm for ransom.”
“No one’s doing that.”
“It seems like they are. I just want to scream. I feel like a time bomb that’s about to go off.”
“Do you need a spanking?”
“Yes.”
“That I can fix.” Crystal took her girl’s hand and walked with her into the bedroom. “What do you want me to use?”
“Your hand.”
Crystal climbed up onto the bed and propped herself against the padded headboard. “Come on,” she said, patting her lap.
“Don’t you want me to take off my clothes?”
“Nah. You’re not in trouble.”
Carol crawled across the large bed and lay across her lover’s lap, and rested her head on her arms. She was pleased that Crystal wasn’t planning on spanking her bare. It was kind of nice sometimes to get spanked through clothes. It could be soothing. There was a different kind of thud and definitely less sting. When the first smack fell, she closed her eyes, allowing herself to soak up the warm feeling that the rhythmic spanks would give her.
Crystal brought her hand down with a hard smack, knowing it wouldn’t hurt and neither of them wanted it to, not at that moment. She knew that what Carol needed was calm reassurance and some loving care, nothing harsh. She smacked the round bottom in front of her about a dozen times before stopping and rubbing gentle circles. “No matter how long this takes, Carol, we can do this. We’ll make this work.” She started again, a little harder than before, not stopping again until Carol wiggled a little.
“Getting hard,” she said with a gravelly voice.
This time Crystal slipped her hand underneath the sweat pants. The cheeks were warm, but nothing more than that. She rubbed some more and massage the cheeks until she felt her girl relax again. “More?” she asked.
“On the skin.”
The sweat pants were loose and came down easily. Carol lifted so she could get them down to her knees. She started spanking again but not as hard as before, bearing in mind that there was no buffer.
“Harder.”
Crystal frowned but spanked harder, watching as her dark pink fingerprints blended into a uniform shade. She was about to call a halt when her girl’s shoulders started to shake and a sob escaped. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Carol said, struggling to her knees and throwing her arms around Crystal’s neck. “I’m fine.”
She didn’t sound fine at all and Crystal was about to go out in sympathy. “You sure?”
“Ye-s,” Carol sobbed.
Crystal hugged Carol tight. “Sh. It’s okay,” she soothed. They must have stayed like that for a good half an hour, not
moving, just sitting there on the bed wrapped in each other’s arms.
“Thanks,” Carol said finally. “I feel better now.”
“Good. I wasn’t just saying that you know. We will get through this. No matter what.”
“Yes we will.”
It was two days later when Carol used the ovulation monitor as she always did at the same time every day. Only this day was different. Staring up at her from the little window in the stick was a smiley face. “Ahhh!” she screamed. She ran for her phone and punched in Crystal’s number. It rang and rang until it rang out. “Shit.” She tried again.
“Hello?” a male voice said.
“Brock?”
“Yes, honey, is that you, Carol?”
“Yeah. Brock, I need Crystal, is she there?”
“No, she ran out of here and she’s left her phone.”
“What time?” Crystal never left her phone.
“Had to be an hour and a half ago now. She should be there soon. Maybe she stopped at the market or something.”
Carol wanted to scream. If Crystal had stopped off to get some soy something or a fresh batch of crappy salad, she would. What the hell were they going to do? Her body was ripe, her eggs were on alert and all they needed was the fucking missing sperm. Now her girlfriend had disappeared as well. What was happening? It was lucky that Brianna was staying at Erin’s because she would probably think her mother was a crazy person. Was she a crazy person? She felt like one. The key turned in the door.
“Carol, honey?” Crystal called.
“I’m right here. I’ve been trying to call you. It was there.”
“What was there?”
“The smiley face! Now it’s going to be too late, if it doesn’t come tomorrow we’ll have to wait a whole other month.” She stomped her foot. Did she actually do that? Yes she did. She who wanted to be a mother again stomped her foot like a two-year old.
“Calm down. I know how to fix this.”
“The very last thing that I need is a spanking. Really.”
“I wasn’t talking about a spanking although the jury is out on whether you need one or not.”
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